The Russian's Pregnant Mistress (11 page)

Damon handed him a glass of wine and poured some seltzer water for Gabby while they all sat down in the living room. “What have you been up to?” Damon asked his little brother.

Gabby was stunned when the man came out of his shyness and told Damon about the research he’d been doing on various poetry. Several times Gabby had to smother a yawn, hoping that Yuri didn’t realize that she was bored out of her mind. She respected poetry, but she hadn’t ever bee enamored of the discipline like Yuri was. The energy and enthusiasm he put into poetry was amazing!

And the man didn’t stop talking throughout dinner either. Damon caught her bored expressions and Gabby had to hide her amusement when she was caught. Damon winked at her at one point and Gabby thought she was going to lose it. Apparently Damon thought the same of his little brother’s poetry discussions, but was more prepared for the evening.

When Gabby brought out the dessert, small plates of tiramisu that she’d bought at the bakery earlier in the day, Yuri finally realized that he’d dominated the conversation for the past several hours. “I apologize,” he blushed when Gabby offered him a plate of the creamy dessert. “I know I can go overboard when I start talking about various poets. Most people don’t share my interest and I’ve been trying to curb my comments when in mixed company.” He took the plate and looked over at his brother. With pride, he asked, “So what companies are you taking over this month?”

Gabby laughed when Damon rolled his eyes. “You can’t deny that you have several targets already in the works,” she replied. Her company had mysteriously started allowing the staff to telecommute on some days of the week so she was able to work from home, directly across the hallway from Damon occasionally. She’d been able to listen to him on conference calls discussing various communications firms that had approached his company to be acquired. Before meeting Damon, Gabby never would have known there were so many small communications companies around the world offering so many different kinds of services and applications. Whenever she started to feel stressed about the pressures of her website building job, she just listened to Damon talk about his day and all of her pressure disappeared. Nothing could compare to the amount of work he accomplished in a twenty-four hour period.

“There are some good ones out there that might be of benefit.” He and Yuri discussed various companies and their benefits for a few moments before Damon finally turned to Gabby. “Are you going to tell him?”

She had just pushed her dessert away, not really feeling up to eating the rich creamy decadence when she heard his question. She was startled and looked to Yuri, who was looking between the two of them as well. “He’s your brother. You should tell him the news.”

“You’re finally getting married!” Yuri exclaimed and jumped up. “This is awesome news! I knew it! The moment you told me that you were moving in with her I knew that you were getting married. Ever since Nika, you’ve never trusted any woman enough to make this move so I knew it was significant.” He was already around the table, giving his big brother a hug, his scrawny arms barely able to go around Damon’s shoulders. “Congratulations,” he enthused.

Damon finally got a word in and shook his head. “Not yet. Gabriella has not agreed to marry me although I’ve asked her several times.” Damon looked down at Gabby with a meaningful look.

Yuri was completely confused now. “Well, if you’re not getting married, then what do you need to tell me?”

Gabby took a deep breath before Damon could cause another misunderstanding. “I’m going to have a baby.”

Yuri’s face was blank for more than two seconds. When the news finally sunk in, his face split into a huge grin and he laughed. “That’s even better! Damon this is fabulous news! I knew the world would right itself after that…”

“No need to bring up past women,” Damon admonished firmly and Yuri immediately understood, but his face still showed his excitement.

“Still, it’s really wonderful news, big brother. No one deserves this more than you after…you know…” he said mysteriously.

Damon shook his head, silently telling Yuri to change the subject. Gabby knew that there was a story here, but Damon wasn’t ready to share it with her. She would have to be patient, she told herself as she loaded up the dishwasher.

“Why don’t you let Jane do that in the morning,” Damon suggested, coming up behind her after letting Yuri out the front door. “That’s what I pay her for anyway.”

“It’s not that hard,” she came back, then jumped when she felt his arms go around her waist. “What are you doing?”

He laughed and bent low to bite her ear. “Trying to convince you to come to bed with me. Obviously I’m not doing a very good job of it, am I?” His hand slid lower and Gabby captured his wrist, stopping him from reaching his target.

“I’m not sleeping with you Damon.”

“Who said anything about sleeping?” he came back. And since her hand wouldn’t let his go lower, he moved upwards, cupping her breast before she stopped him. But he only had a small taste before she stepped away.

“You’re right, I’ll leave the rest for Jane to clean up in the morning,” she said and hurried out of the kitchen, needing to put space between them before she gave in and let him make love to her. Just that small touch had sent her senses reeling and she wanted to hurry back to him, throw herself into his arms and touch him everywhere. But tonight’s dinner told her that Damon still didn’t trust her as a partner. There were too many secrets that he continued to hide from her.

As she brushed her teeth and washed her face, she thought back to the conversation towards the end of the meal. The biggest question was finding out who this Nika woman was. She’d obviously had a huge impact on Damon’s life and she wanted to find her and hurt her just like Gabby suspected the unknown woman had hurt Damon.

Chapter 6

Gabby took the pounding tool, or whatever it’s called, and pounded out the chicken breasts, getting rid of all of her excess stress. Which was painfully high lately. Seeing Damon walking around this big, beautiful house was bad enough. He strolled downstairs to get his coffee in slacks and nothing else. He touched her wherever she was, no matter what she was doing. Sometimes, the need to just turn around and touch him back was overwhelming but she held firm, wanting more from Damon than just a sexual relationship.

It seemed to be working sometimes. They sat down to dinner alone on some nights and talked. At times their conversations were about what had happened during their days but other times, they just laughed or talked about stuff. Those moments were nice and she truly felt like she was getting to know him.

But did he care for her? There was always that sexual undercurrent that, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t ignore it.

In the past, she’d held out on having a physical relationship with men, not willing to take that step because she didn’t feel comfortable. She’d already taken that step obviously so why was she holding out now? Damon didn’t seem like he was going anywhere although he didn’t appear to be affected by their lack of an intimate relationship. Not like she was. Gabby was frustrated almost every moment of every day. She dreamt about him at night which meant she woke up so sexually frustrated that she wanted to scream.

Thoughts about being with him crept into her work and she suspected she was putting a great many subliminal sexual references into her clients’ websites because all she thought about during the day was sex. She came home, thankfully to a perfectly clean house because Jane was an absolute wonder, and cooked until she had a full course meal prepared. She even cooked on nights when she and Damon had social obligations! Cooking and playing music were her creative outlets but she didn’t have her keyboard with her. She’d tried to get it several times, but something always came up so cooking was her current outlet.

Damon sailed through the days as if nothing were wrong. He’d come back from work and kiss her on the neck, nibble her ear and Gabby had to grip the edge of the counter to stop herself from leaning back and taking what he was offering. When she wasn’t looking, he would kiss her on her shoulder or her neck before he left in the morning.

He came to her door this morning to ask her a question about her schedule, no shirt, his slacks unbuttoned but the zipper up and she could see all those magnificent pectoral and abdominal muscles, that massive expanse of chest. Since the jerk was so tall, the moment she’d opened the door, that incredible chest was right there at eye level.

Had he done that on purpose? She pounded harder. Was he trying to obliterate her control of this lust that she was constantly feeling? Or was this morning an innocent accidental viewing? What was she thinking? Of course he was trying to make her give in. He never said it in so many words, but everything he did, every kiss, every touch, every knowing look he passed her way was designed by a master lover to break down her resistance.

He strolled around here in those suits all the time as well! She pounded even harder. He looked incredibly hot in those perfectly tailored, thousand dollar suits. Who wouldn’t, she asked herself and pounded the chicken again and again.

And when he walked in and skimmed his hands along her already sensitized skin, his long fingers that she knew were so amazingly talented and she wanted so desperately to be on her body and touching her all over…Ugh! They simply loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top button of his dress shirt. Even the appearance of his Adam’s apple made her salivate now!

She pounded out another chicken breast, putting all of her energy into getting the chicken as thin as possible. She hated living here like this, with him strutting around and being so frustratingly sexy. He made comments too. This morning, when she’d stood there in the doorway to her bedroom and him outside in the hallway with all that skin showing, small droplets of water from his shower still clinging to the middle of his chest….goodness and one of those tantalizing droplets right in the middle of that dent in his chest, just under his sternum where the ribs ended…was she going mental to want to touch that spot? Was she just going crazy no matter what?

She stopped for a moment and took a breath. Could a person be institutionalized for sexual frustration?

The morning sickness was gone, her stomach was starting to show just slightly and the pregnancy hormones were doing crazy things to her body. Her hair was thicker, her breasts were huge and she was having the oddest cravings. Last night, all she wanted was macaroni and cheese. Since she’d come downstairs at ten o’clock to make some, she knew for an absolute fact that normal mac and cheese simply wouldn’t suffice. She wanted the stuff in the box with that horrible powdered cheese that tasted so perfect! Ugh! She never ate that stuff so why was she craving it now? And why in heaven’s name had she hurried to the grocery store as soon as it opened this morning and bought every last box of it that they’d had on the shelves?

Yes, she really was losing her mind.

“They’re already dead, you know,” Damon said from the kitchen doorway.

Gabby jumped about half a foot, her chicken hammer still in the air and her eyes drawn to him no matter how hard she tried to keep from looking at him.

And dammit! There he went again. Those long fingers, the tie…..oh…and the button! Couldn’t he just open a few more of those buttons? Just one or two….or ten? Then pull the material away and….

Gabby stopped, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “You’re back early,” she finally got out, trying to pull her mind out of the gutter.

As was his habit, he strolled over to a side area where the alcohol was kept and poured himself a drink. Or he was about to. Gabby’s eyes caught where he was headed and she cursed herself for forgetting to hide the evidence of her insanity. She’d been so disgusted by her grocery store run and lack of self-discipline this morning that she’d just dumped all those ridiculous boxes of heavenly food onto that counter where she never went, hoping to keep them out of her sight.

“Is there a reason we needed twenty-five boxes of pasta?” he asked calmly.

Gabby would have laughed at the way he stood there, carefully surveying the blue and orange boxes before gently extracting his favorite scotch from underneath the pile. The crystal glasses were in an overhead, glass-fronted cabinet and he poured himself a small amount, then looked back at the boxes and poured himself a bit more. Since there wasn’t any way for him to put the scotch back in its place because of the pile of pasta boxes, he simply carried the bottle over to the counter and looked down at what she was making.

“Did they hurt you?” he asked.

“The boxes?” she replied, not sure what he was talking about.

“No, the chickens.”

She glared at him as if he were the one that was insane. “Of course not.”

“Then why did you beat them to a pulp.”

Gabby looked down, then gasped in horror. The chicken breasts that she’d chosen because they were such a healthy alternative to powdered mac and cheese, which she’d scarfed down for lunch, were halfway beaten to a mutilated mess on one side and then almost untouched on the other side. Basically, they looked like a bulbous, disgusting mess. “Oh…” she didn’t have any way to explain it so she just dropped the mallet. Bracing her hands on the side of the counter, she took several deep breaths.

Damon watched her carefully, wondering how he could help her. She looked so incredibly beautiful and all he wanted to do was take her into his arms and make love to her. He had no idea why some men thought pregnant women lost their appeal because his woman just looked more incredibly gorgeous with each passing day. It had nothing to do with her breasts, but his hands ached to explore their new fullness. His fascination was with her whole body which was starting to show and he thought the additional weight she’d put on looked perfect on her. She was all softness and curves and lusciousness.

“Tighten your tie,” she said with a growl.

Damon looked at the top of her head with his eyebrows raised in surprise, her tense shoulders and the fingers gripping the sides of the granite counter weren’t her normal stance and he was dumbfounded by her command. “Excuse me?” he asked as politely as possible. She was in the grips of some sort of emotion that he didn’t really understand. But it had been three months since he’d held her and he was tempted to just pick her up into his arms and carry her upstairs to her bedroom. But she’d laid down the rules. No sex. Why, he didn’t understand, but it had something to do with not wanting to be his mistress or be a kept woman….or something ridiculous like that. She said they needed to get to know one another. And living with her was definitely doing that, he just didn’t understand why they couldn’t get to know each other sexually as well.